Pedra Gravada del Turó dels Castellans
Also known asPedra Gravada de Parpers
DatedEst. 4300–1200 BCE
Photo Clemens Schmillen · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Pedra Gravada del Turó dels Castellans, also known as the Pedra Gravada de Parpers, is a megalithic complex with petroglyphs in the municipality of Argentona, in the comarca of Maresme, province of Barcelona, Spain. It lies in the Cordillera Litoral park, where other megalithic complexes are found, and has been entered in the Catalan inventory of architectural heritage as a cultural asset of national interest since 1985.
The engraved stone was found in August 1990. Archaeologists consider that it is not in its original position and that the carvings have no link with the materials found around it.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Pedra Gravada del Turó dels Castellans
The engravings can be described as three small cup marks, more or less equidistant and linked by fine grooves.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pétroglyphes de ParpersCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pétroglyphes de ParpersCC BY-SA 4.0
The monolith measures about 1.30 × 0.85 m and projects 0.30 m from the ground. The engravings can be described as three small cup marks, more or less equidistant and linked by fine grooves. By comparison with similar engravings discovered elsewhere, they may be dated to the Neolithic or, at the latest, to the Bronze Age.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pétroglyphes de ParpersCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pétroglyphes de ParpersCC BY-SA 4.0
The stone was discovered in August 1990 by forest rangers. Its distinctive feature is its petroglyphs, which are difficult to interpret, on the upper face.
Two survey campaigns were carried out in the area, one in 1999 and one in 2000, both undertaken as emergency work because building on the land was imminent. They brought to light three pieces of flint, fragments of Iberian pottery and much more recent iron shavings. These finds, with other indications, lead archaeologists to state that the stone is not in its original location and that the carvings have no connection with the materials found. During earthworks nearby, various remains of pottery and other materials were also uncovered.
InterpretationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pétroglyphes de ParpersCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Pétroglyphes de ParpersCC BY-SA 4.0
The stone forms part of an alignment of stones, some of them artificially placed, forming an approximately rectangular perimeter. This may be an old agricultural structure, perhaps a very rustic farmer's hut.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Megalithic monuments of the Basque highlands
Most of the Atlas's Spanish "megalith" records lie in the Basque country and Navarre, in upland pasture where prehistoric graves are found in great numbers. The Basque Country has a multitude of megaliths, described as dolmens or as mounds, sometimes confusingly. They are burials of a collective nature, placed in spots of great visibility, often on the tops of mountain ridges, and are built of local materials. Around 800 dolmens and about 500 mounds are known, though some of the mounds could be dolmens awaiting excavation. Dolmens have a chamber of flat stones under a roof stone, covered with stones and earth; the chambers are either simple or with a corridor, and the corridor type is limited to the Ebro valley. The largest dolmens are in lowland areas and the smaller ones in the mountains.
Few Basque dolmens have clear stratigraphy, because older remains were swept aside to make room for new burials. Even so it is known that megalithic burial arrived in the late Neolithic, was in frequent use in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, and in some mounds continued as late as the Iron Age.
The standing stones and stone circles are later. Menhirs and cromlechs seem to belong to the Iron Age, when cremation became dominant. The individual burial in a cromlech is the most abundant, but limited to the Pyrenean region, where 851 of them are documented. They are 3 to 7 metres across, with the burial at the centre; the body was not burned inside the circle but at a nearby spot, and only a handful of ashes was carried to the monument.
When visiting, expect to walk: the monuments are on upland ridges, and a circle or mound is often hard to see until you are close.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Basque prehistory, Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Cromlech, Wikipedia: Menhir · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1985
Le site archéologique est inscrit à l'Inventaire du patrimoine architectural de Catalogne en tant que bien culturel d'intérêt nation al depuis 1985.
Source - 1990
Cette pierre gravée a été découverte en août 1990 par des gardes forestiers.
Source - 1999
Deux campagnes de prospection ont été menées dans la zone (l'une en 1999 et l'autre en 2000), toutes deux réalisées en urgence en raison de la construction imminente du terrain.
Source
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 4300–1200 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megaliths in Spain; this site has not been dated itself. Megalithic construction in southern Spain c. 4300 BC and in Malaga and Guadiana c. 3500 BC; the Mediterranean megalithic tradition ends by c. 1200 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Spain
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 41°35′37″ N, 2°22′39″ EFor a GPS or map app: 41.59369, 2.37758
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q21480099wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- PedraGravadaTuroCastellans1.jpgClemens SchmillenCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Pétroglyphes de Parpers" (French), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors